


Countdown

by Tsunoba



Series: 999 Week [2]
Category: 999: Nine Hours Nine Persons Nine Doors - Fandom, Zero Escape (Video Games)
Genre: 999 week, Gen, Originally Posted on Tumblr, Protective Siblings, Schrödinger's Akane, Sibling Bonding, Timeline Fuckery
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-17
Updated: 2016-02-17
Packaged: 2018-05-21 07:34:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 449
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6043414
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tsunoba/pseuds/Tsunoba
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Aoi has second thoughts as he and Akane prepare for the second Nonary Game.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Countdown

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted [here](http://risingmoonrevenge.tumblr.com/post/128361361188/999-week-santa) for 999 Week 2015. This one was my favorite, so I thought I'd post it here.

Aoi looked down at the gun in the coffin. “Are you sure we have to do this?”

Akane nodded. “The gun was there when I was watching through Jumpy.”

“I just don’t know if I can do it,” said Aoi. “What if I accidentally pull the trigger?”

“You won’t,” said Akane.

“You don’t know that,” he said, turning to look at her. “Just because you only saw six timelines doesn’t mean there weren’t more.”

Akane squeezed his hand. “You won’t. I know you. You’re my big brother. You’ll be careful.”

Aoi pulled his hand away and shoved it in his pocket. “I just don’t want to see you dead again.”

“Again?”

He looked down at the crate he stood on, scuffing his shoe against it. “Sometimes,” he said, “I can see that alternate timeline. The one where you died.”

He heard his sister make a noise of surprise, but he ignored her and continued speaking.

“When I think of that day,” he said, “I remember that moment you came out, and I remember how happy I was. At the same time, I can see myself walking to your body, and I can feel that same horror that I felt back then. Every time I remember that Goddamn day, every night that I dream about it, I can never fucking tell which one is real. It’s not until I can see you again that I’m able to know for sure which reality I’m in. I normally try not to think about it, but it’s getting harder to do that now that we’re almost to Day Zero.”

Akane stood there in silence for a moment. Then, suddenly, she engulfed her brother in a hug.

“Don’t worry, Aoi. Even if it doesn’t work, it just means we’re in one of those alternate timelines. There’s still one version of us that will succeed.”

“That doesn’t change the fact that I would lose you in this timeline.”

She smiled sadly. “No. I suppose it doesn’t. But it won’t be for nothing. After all, we need to fail at least once. My younger self can only transmit the safe number to Jumpy if she sees it in one of the failed timelines.”

Aoi snorted. “Do realize how crazy this shit would sound to anyone else?” But he hugged her back.

She was right. No matter what happened, it wouldn’t be for nothing. Hongou, Kubota, Musashidou, and Nijisaki would all pay, one way or another, in every single timeline. Even if Aoi died, he would die knowing that Hongou would never escape Building Q.

But if he was lucky, then he would get to be Santa Claus one last time, and make a wish come true.


End file.
